What if Jump the Shark
by Katy M VT
Summary: What if Jump the Shark took place Season 1 right after The Benders? Chapter 3 of 3 up.
1. Teaser

What if Jump the Shark took place Season 1 right after The Benders?

Sam and Dean were walking away from Kathleen and the farm. "Dude, if you ever do that again," Dean said.

"Do what?" Sam asked, wondering what he had done wrong.

"Go missing like that."

Sam smiled. "You were worried about me."

"No, I wasn't," Dean denied. "All I'm saying is if you ever go missing again, I'm not going to look for you."

"Yeah you will," Sam said confidently. If there was anything he could count on, he knew it was that Dean would always look for him.

"Yeah," Dean admitted. But, better to make sure Sam never went missing again.

"Man, how far are we from town anyway?" Sam asked about a half hour later.

"Quite a ways," Dean said.

Sam was tired. He hadn't eaten for two days and he hadn't dared to fall asleep since waking up in that cage. Especially after what happened to Jenkins. He was just going to have to suck it up. Dean had problems too. He was branded and that had to hurt like crazy.

SSS

"There she is," Dean said when he saw the Impala.

Sam smiled. He half wondered if he went missing at the same time as the Impala, which one Dean would look for first.

"Let's go to the hotel," Dean said.

"Food?" Sam asked.

That was weird. Sam never got hungry before he did. "Did they feed you?"

"No."

Dean was pissed. If he hadn't been tied up, he would have killed those guys, not locked them in the cages. At least the dad was dead. He wondered what would happen to the girl. "We'll get some food," Dean said.

SSS

Three Days Later

"I think I found a new case," Sam said. "It's actually not far from here, Windom, Minnesota."

"What is it?" Dean asked. He hoped it was a simple salt and burn.

"A woman disappeared from her house."

"How do we know that's our kind of thing?" Dean asked, thinking it sounded an awful lot like their last case which turned out to be humans.

"Well, her neighbor saw her go in, but she never came out. Doors were locked from the inside and there's no trace of her."

"Any sign of a struggle?" Dean asked.

"A table was knocked over in the bedroom. That was about it."

"I don't know, Sam," Dean hedged. He was afraid that whoever or whatever took that woman would take Sam, too.

"It'll be fine, Dean," Sam said, rolling his eyes. Sometimes he didn't understand Dean. He came to drag him back to hunting, but then got overprotective every time something went wrong. Things were bound to go wrong in the hunting business.

"Fine," Dean acquiesced.

A/N Please visit my home page and vote in my When the Levee Breaks poll. Thanks.


	2. Secrets

Sam and Dean knocked at the door.

"Yeah?' a 16 year old kid answered the door.

"Are you Adam?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Who are you?"

"We're with the state police," Dean said, as they flashed their badges. "We're here to see if we can find out what happened to your mother."

Adam opened the door wider to let them in.

"Are you here by yourself?" Sam asked, not seeing any evidence of adults.

"I called my dad. He said he'd be here today," Adam said.

"Where did your mom disappear from?" Dean asked.

"Upstairs, from her room," Adam answered.

Sam and Dean followed him up the stairs. Dean looked under the bed and saw scratching. He saw a heating vent underneath and blood around it. He exchanged a look with Sam. "I'll go," Dean said.

"I can if you want," Sam said.

"No, I'll go," Dean said in case the thing was still down there waiting to snatch someone. Luckily Sam was on to something else, looking at everything on the floor.

Dean descended into the duct. Sam picked up a picture that had fallen to the floor. He did a doubletake. That looked a lot like John Winchester. Granted, he hadn't seen him for a long time, but he was his father.

Dean came back up. He saw a lot of blood and hair and some bones down there. There was no way this kid's mother was still alive, but he wasn't going to be the one to tell him that. At least not now.

The doorbell rang. "That's my dad," Adam said.

"Dean, I need to show you something," Sam said.

"In a minute, Sammy, I want to talk to the dad," Dean said as he followed Adam out of the bedroom.

"But, Dean," Sam said.

"In a minute," Dean replied. If this kid had to call his father, it meant that he wasn't a live-in dad. Dean wanted to make sure he had emotional support before he found out his mother was dead. Whatever Sam had found would have to wait.

"Dad," he heard Adam saying as he opened the door.

"Are you OK, Adam?" He knew that voice. That wasn't Adam's father. That was his father. He heard Sam coming up behind him.

"That's what I wanted to tell you," Sam whispered. "I found a picture of Dad in the bedroom."

"Mr. Milligan," Dean said, getting a hold of himself. "Could we have a word?"

John looked up in surprise at Dean's voice. He saw Sam behind him. This was the first time he had seen Sam since he had kicked him out of the family. He had spoken to him on the phone that one time a couple of months ago, but this is not how he wanted the reunion to go. Not the same time they found out he had another son. A son he was hiding from them and protecting from the supernatural world. A son that was going to get the life that Sam wanted.

"Sure," he finally said. "Excuse us, Adam."

He went upstairs to the bedroom with Sam and Dean. "You have another son?" Dean asked. "How long have you known?

"Almost five years. I found out right after Sam left for Stanford."

"So, he was Sam's replacement?" Dean asked. Sam was kind of wondering that himself.

"Of course not," John said. "It's good to see you, Sammy."

"You, too, Dad."

"What happened?" John asked.

"Something pulled her down to the heating vent and tore her apart. She's dead," Dean said bluntly. Normally, he might have been a little more compassionate, but he was mad. His dad had a whole different family. Also, he hadn't come when Dean had called him about their old house, or when Sam had called to tell him that Dean was dying. But he was here in a heartbeat. For his other son.

"Do you know what it was?"

"No, how did you two meet?" Dean countered.

"I was hunting here. I got hurt and went to the ER. Kate was a nurse."

"What were you hunting?" Sam asked.

"A ghoul."

"Well, ghouls eat dead meat, so that's not what killed Kate," Sam said. He wondered why his father would bother hunting a ghoul. All they did was eat dead people. Didn't really hurt anybody. But, he and his father had had this argument once before, so he wasn't going to bother again.

Dean couldn't believe his brother was just going to discuss the case with their dad. This was a major betrayal. Fine, if that's what they wanted, he could play that game, too. "Sammy and I will go talk to the local cops," Dean said. "You can stay here with your son."

John had to handle this investigation himself. "No, you and I will go. Sam can keep an eye on Adam."

"No," Dean said.

Sam looked at Dean. As far as he knew Dean had never defied one of their father's orders.

"Dean, this is what we're doing," John said and headed out the door.

Dean rolled his eyes. If his dad wasn't going to stay, Sam would have to. He didn't want to leave the kid all alone when they didn't know what they were dealing with, but he didn't think he could stay without blowing up at him. It wasn't really Adam's fault, he told himself, but he totally resented him.


	3. Jealousy

"Where did my dad go with your partner?" Adam asked.

"To go talk to the local police," Sam answered.

"Do you know my dad?" Adam asked.

"Why do you ask?" Sam asked. It would have been so much easier if Dad had stayed here with Adam. He shouldn't be the one to have this conversation.

"You just seemed like you did."

Sam was saved from further conversation by the return of John and Dean. "You find anything out?" he asked.

"No," John said. On top of that, Dean had pretty much refused to speak to him while they were out.

"Dad, do you know these guys?" Adam asked. Sam hadn't answered him, which he took as a yes.

"Adam, these are your brothers," John said. "They happen to be cops and I think it's good that they were assigned this case."

"My brothers?" Adam asked.

"Yeah, but don't worry, Adam. You're his favorite," Dean said. "Come on, Sam. Dad has this."

"Dean," John began, but was interrupted by a shriek coming from the walls. "Sam, get Adam outside," John ordered.

Dean and John grabbed their guns and started shooting at the walls. "What's going on?" Adam cried.

"Come on," Sam said and ushered him outside.

"That sounds like a ghoul. Why would a ghoul be eating people?" Dean asked. The shrieking stopped and they were looking into the vent to make sure they got it.

"I don't know. It's weird," John admitted.

"I don't see anything. I think it got away," Dean said. "Are you going to tell Adam the truth?"

"Since when do we tell people the truth?"

"He's not people. He's your son."

"I don't want him to know about monsters. I want to keep him safe," John answered.

"You told me and Sam. You didn't care about us being safe?"

"Of course I did, Dean. You know I did. But I didn't have a choice with you guys. I know now, though, that it was a mistake. You don't raise your children to chase monsters. I put your lives in danger constantly. I got a second chance with Adam and I'm going to do it right."

Dean didn't care about his messed up life. But he knew Sam would have loved to have not known about monsters. It wasn't fair that Adam got what Sam always wanted.

"Whatever. "

They went outside. Sam and Adam weren't there, but there was some blood next to the road.

"Sam!" Dean yelled. This couldn't be happening again. Not so soon after the last time.

"Adam, Sam!" John yelled.

"Where do ghouls hole up?" Dean asked. He had never hunted a ghoul before. Since they generally only ate dead bodies, it just usually never came up.

"Usually near a cemetery, but if this one's graduated to fresh meat, that might not hold true."

"Well, it's all we have for now," Dean said.

SSS

"Kate" and "Adam" had dragged Sam into their underground lair beneath the crypt.

"He's waking up," Adam said.

Sam fully woke up and saw that he was tied down to a stone table.

"You're not the real Adam," Sam said.

"Nope. We ate him a couple of days ago," Kate said.

"Why? I mean, you're ghouls, right? You usually eat dead meat."

"Well, your father killed our father, and now we just want revenge," Adam said. "He thought our father was a monster. Our father never killed anyone, which is a lot more than I can say for your father."

"I don't kill people, just monsters," John said as he and Dean burst in on them. Dean pointed his shotgun and blew off Kate's head. John hesitated as he aimed at Adam.

Adam took advantage of the situation and dove behind the table. He grabbed a knife and put it against Sam's throat. "You just killed my sister. You killed my father. Why shouldn't I kill your son?"

"You already did kill one of them," John said. "I killed your father and sister. You killed my son and girlfriend. We're even. Let Sam go and we'll all go our separate ways." John didn't mean that for a second, but he had to get Sam away from him.

"You know, when ghouls eat, they not only get the form of their last meal, but all their memories, thoughts, and feelings," Adam said.

"What's your point?" Dean asked.

"Was "Dad" as good of a father to you as he was to Adam? He didn't even know about Adam until he was 12. He came to visit on birthdays and holidays. If he was spending Christmas and Thanksgiving with Adam, who were you spending that time with?"

Dean remembered the last four Christmases. Dad had told him to go to Bobby's because he was going to take care of a hunt. He didn't need Dean to help, though, he should celebrate the holidays. Dean had always known growing up that Dad had liked Sam better, now it seemed there was another son he liked better, too.

Sam was struggling against the ropes as much as he could without moving into the knife, but he was getting nowhere.

"Tell you what I'll do John. I'll just kill this son and leave you and the other one alone. You two seem like you have unfinished business."

"No!" Dean and John both yelled.

"Would you prefer I kill your other son instead?" Adam asked.

"Of course not," John said. "You're not going to kill anyone."

Sam managed to pull one of his hands free. Before Adam could react, he knocked his hand away from his throat and rolled off the table. Dean shot Adam's head off as soon as Sam was clear.

"You OK?" Dean asked as he rushed up to untied Sam's other hand.

"Yeah. Thought you weren't going to look for me if I went missing again?" Sam teased.

"Well, Dad made me," Dean said.

"Let's get out of here," John said. He couldn't believe the son he tried to protect by keeping him out of the loop was the one who died by being eaten by a monster.

"Sorry about Adam, Dad," Sam said. "What was he like?"

"He was actually a lot like you. He was a straight A student, wanted to be a doctor, played soccer," John answered.

No wonder Dad like him better than him, Dean thought. Adam was like a second Sammy.

Sam had a feeling that Dad had just said the exact wrong thing. He had just heard what the ghoul had said about Christmas. Dean had to be feeling hurt, but he couldn't exactly say anything since Adam was dead.

John also just realized that. "Dean, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Adam and that I spent the last few Christmases with him. I just felt like I had a second chance and I didn't want to mess it up."

"I can understand why you didn't want Adam to know about hunting, but why couldn't he have know about us? Were you ashamed of us…or me?" Dean asked.

"No, Dean. I could never be ashamed of either of you. I was just afraid that if Adam had too much contact with us, he would have been in danger. And if he knew about you guys, he would want to see you more often. I just came to see him a two to four times a year. Trust me, I was just as bad a father to him as I was to you boys."

"You weren't a bad father," Sam said. "You did your best."

"I'm surprised to hear you say that," John said.

"Well, since Jess died, I understand what you must have felt when Mom died. I guess I just understand you now. I still think my childhood sucked, though," he smiled.

"Dad, you just found out that keeping somebody out of something doesn't keep them safe. Let us help you with the demon hunt," Dean said.

John sighed. Dean might be right. If they were all together they could watch each other's backs.

"OK. We go after this thing together."

The End.


End file.
